


Nure-Onna

by TheBodyBioelectric



Category: Tomb Raider & Related Fandoms, Tomb Raider (Video Game)
Genre: AU-Survivalist Lara, Actually less graphic violence than canon typical, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Comforting Sam, F/F, It's canon fite me, Lesbian Character, Wouldn't have gotten very far without my Sam, dangerous cinnamon roll Lara, mostly - Freeform, no one new dies, non-verbal Lara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-18 02:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9363236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBodyBioelectric/pseuds/TheBodyBioelectric
Summary: An AU where Lara disappears along with her parents, and so never meets Sam in College. Sam, however, still boards the SS endurance as Alex's girlfriend, before she is washed overboard onto a mysterious island.Something I've been kicking around for a while. The title comes from Japanese folklore, it's a type of snake-woman shape-shifter that appears as a young girl to lure in victims before devouring them.





	1. Chapter 1

Sam loved film. She would watch acclaimed films even if she didn’t enjoy the plot if the filmography was good. One her boyfriend had called it Sam’s film porn habit. But she had never seen the movie 127 hours, despite the breathtaking angles and beautiful color palettes. She had always been too squeamish to watch a movie where the climax was someone cutting off their own hand. 

As she sat freezing and scared on the beach of the cold, lonely island she had washed up on after falling overboard, she realized that she really would have been too squeamish.

“Shit,” Sam said again as she pulled on her hand again, giving up after the pain became too great. The sudden storm that had come upon her had tossed her up onto the rocky shore. It had also tossed what looked like a World War 2 gun turret nearly on top of her, pinning her hand to the large boulder she had washed up on.

At the time, it had seemed like a perfectly fine idea to take the small boat she had been on with a member of the Endurance crew, Doug, or something, out into the ocean to film him fishing. He had been photogenic enough, and it would give her some relatable footage she would desperately need to balance out all the truly noxious takes of Dr. Whitman. 

But now Doug was dead, his brains dashed violently against underwater rocks. His death was one of the few images Sam could pick out from the violent battering she had received from the ocean. Soon she would be dead too, if she couldn’t get the nerve up to do what she had to and cut off her hand before the tide rose above her head to drown her.

It was a minor miracle she was alive at all, given she had been thrown against rocks by the violent waves. However, a combination of a foam buoy, her life jacket and a lucky counter current had cushioned her from the worst of the impact to where she would only be slightly bruised instead of battered and broken.

Sam clutched the sharp, rusty piece of metal she had managed to break off of the turret in her non-trapped hand, tears in her eyes.

She had tried to simply yank her hand free at first, with increasing desperation once she realized her predicament. She tried to knock the turret over, or even lift it just a little, to free herself. She had tried to lubricate her wrist with some seaweed from the turret. She tried to break off the portion of rusty turret that was pinning her hand. She had even tried chipping away at the rock her hand was pinned to, all to no avail.

Sam steeled herself, and raised the sharp metal to plunge into her wrist.

“Hey there!” came a cry over the rapidly approaching pounding surf. Sam dropped the steel in surprise. 

“Hey! Hey over here!” She yelled to three grungy looking men were jogging over to her on the beach armed with bows.

“Hey!” Sam called again and waved her hand excitedly as their leader came closer to her. “I need some help!”

“That’s a girl, isn’t it?” One of the men said as they approached. “Mathias will be pleased.”

“Who’s Mathias?” Sam asked, suddenly very nervous about these men. They had a hardness in their eyes that put her on edge. 

“What have I told you about sounding creepy?” the man who seemed to be their leader said, slapping the other man in the back of the head. “He’s just our leader. We’re a group of shipwrecked survivors. What’s the problem?”

“My hand is pinned under this rust bucket, and I can’t move it,” Sam said, smacking the turret. “Could you help me move it before the tide comes in?”

“Brother, we don’t have time for this,” the oldest one said, looking around nervously. “I just got a report the Outsider is on the move in this area again.”

“Come on, don’t be a crybaby,” the leader said again. “She would only be this far from her territory to get something specific. You know how she is. She’s as predictable as any of the other Oni.”

“Yeah, that’s why I never wanna meet her,” the older man said. “She ain’t worth the risk. We should leave, man.”

“Outsider?” Sam asked nervously.

“Nothing to worry about, just a ghost story,” the leader said harshly. “We’ll just lift this up fast and bring her back to base with us. Now give me a hand.”

“Thank you,” Sam said. The leader barked a cough that was almost a laugh.

“Don’t thank us yet,” He said as the three men slung their bows over their shoulders around the turret to try to lift it.

“Ok, three, two, one, heave!” the leader said, and Sam felt the turret shift slightly but not lift enough to move her hand. 

“Dammit, Johnson, it’s like you’re not even lifting!” the leader said as he walked around the side of the turret. “Oh G-“

Sam Screamed as he fell backwards, blood spraying out of his throat, an arrow cutting off his gurgling cry as he toppled over. The third man drew a knife clumsily as he raced over to the dying man, fumbling with a radio. 

“She-” was all he got out before a ghostly silent form dropped on top of him from the top of the turret, knocking the radio and knife from his hands with a vicious swing of her makeshift climbing axe. The man took a step back and tried to notch an arrow, but his bow was broken by the next swing. He stumbled and tripped over the body of his dying friend who was still clawing at his throat, mouth gurgling and eyes bulging. 

The man backed away on all fours now, whimpering as the terrifying figure approached him. The man made a last move for a knife in his boot, but he had barely touched the handle before the figure had caved in his head with a feral scream of triumph and rage, ripping the point of the axe out of his now sickeningly ragdoll corpse. 

The figure turned to Sam.

Sam tried to scramble away instinctively, but remembering her hand gave up almost immediately. Her brain was too overcome with terror to focus on anything in particular. She felt herself freeze and fall into the familiar thought pattern of how she would film this person as she strode towards her. 

The traditional Japanese demon mask she wore over her face was terrifying. She would definitely need to center that, top third of the screen. The easy grace she moved with was both terrifying and hypnotic, and it reminded Sam of a big cat; they both had the movements of an apex predator. If she got her hips in the frame, that would capture the movements perfectly. Her weapons and gear clinked softly on the makeshift belts she wore over her deerskin coat. Those would probably be a pain in the ass to make feel realistic in audio.

Sam also picked up that the figure was distinctly female now, despite the many layers she wore. She would look absolutely killer from a low angle shot like this. Sam almost laughed at her own fatalistic pun.

The woman knelt before her and paused. She seemed to be examining her, and Sam couldn’t suppress a shiver from seeing the cold calculation behind the grey eyes drinking in every detail about her. Sam could see that the masked woman’s irises were dilated, as if she had become excited from her kill, but the gloved hand she slowly extended to gently touch Sam’s face didn’t shake at all. 

Sam shook as she felt the cold-blooded killer touch her uncertainly, like she was exploring or examining some incredibly rare object. Sam could sense that while this person didn’t want to harm her, it was still very disorienting to be assessed like this, no matter how gently.

“He-Hello,” Sam managed to get out. The figure quirked her head to the side, before standing up and backing away from Sam, looking around her thoughtfully.

“I would… I don’t know why you killed those men, and I know I’m not really in a position to ask anything from you, but the tide is coming in, and I don’t have a lot to lose by asking, but if you wanted to save me, and move this turret, that would be cool,” Sam rambled. She had always rambled when she was nervous. She mentally hit herself for sounding like an idiot.

Lara took out a single arrow and tied a strong looking rope to the end, before she smoothly notched, aimed and fired the bow in one smooth motion into a wooden post jutting out from the cliff face. Looping one end to one edge of the turret, she threw the remaining rope over a rocky outcrop. She then grabbed the end of the rope that came over the other side, forming a rudimentary pulley system.

Sam was skeptical that the woman’s plan would work; given her small frame compared to the three men she had killed. Sam figured she would have to be almost supernaturally strong by her standards to be able to lift such a heavy object. 

The masked woman let out a terrifying grunt that was almost a scream, and the turret lifted an inch off the rock, and Sam quickly slipped her hand out from its prison almost out of surprise and fear more than anything. A second later, the arrow ripped out of the wooden post, sending the turret crashing back down. 

Sam felt very light headed as she stood up. Her mind was reeling from the fact that this lethal woman wasn’t trying to kill her, that she had survived three near death experiences in the last day; that she had seen four men die brutally in that same time. She tried to say thank you as she dimly heard the turret crash down to the rocks below her as her vision started to be edged with darkness. The terrifyingly strong woman caught her before she fell to the ground, and Sam lost consciousness to the combination of hypothermia, exhaustion, shock, and sudden return of circulation to her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had vague, jostling memories of being carried over rough terrain on the back of the masked woman as she faded in and out of consciousness over the course of the trip.

When Sam awoke fully, she heard the crackling of a fire. Her eyes flew open, and the sight of a small cave bathed in the orange light of a campfire and several torches on the walls. Sam was wrapped in something very soft and warm, and she felt positively drowsy under the warmth and weight of what she now realized were several fur blankets. She also smelled a delicious stew coming from a bubbling pot that hung over the fire.

As she got a sense of her surroundings, she realized her pillow had a familiar feel to it, even though she couldn’t put her finger on it. When she felt a hand softly pet her hair and she realized that her head was resting on a thigh. She realized that whoever’s lap she was in was absentmindedly petting her, which was both slightly odd and felt really soothing for some reason. 

Shifting onto her side and sitting up with her arm, she saw that her head had been resting on the grey cargo pants of the masked woman who had saved her earlier. The woman had removed her mask, and it now sat menacingly on a hook on the rock wall of the cavern they were in. 

The woman looking at her was in her early twenties, with a softer, rounder face than Sam was expecting. Sharp eyes peered out at her, studying her. Her hair was pulled back in a simple braid that spilled over the blue camisole she wore, her deerskin coat hanging on the wall. Sam had to suck her breath in a little when she saw the huge number of pale scars that crisscrossed her exposed skin, and she wondered what she had been through to collect so many at such a young age.

Sam looked down and realized that she had been changed out of her soaking wet clothes and put into plaid boxers and a t shirt much too large for her. She shivered slightly at both the slightly damp air and the thought of this woman seeing her naked form as she undressed her. Sam could see her wet clothes still drying on a makeshift rack near the fire, and while she knew it was probably for her own good that they had been taken off it was still extremely creepy to wake up in different underwear you fell asleep in.

“Where am I?” Sam asked as she turned her attention to the strange woman in the cave with her. The woman cocked her head to the side.

“Do you speak English?” Sam asked. The woman smiled and nodded. Sam thought that that was a good sign. Sam hoped that smiling meant that she liked her well enough.

“What’s your name?” Sam asked. Lara frowned and scrunched up her eyebrows. Suddenly her entire face light up as she picked up the raggedy teddy bear from beside Sam. Sam was surprised when the woman gave it a brief snuggle to her chest like a little kid would before she extended it to Sam, pointing to its foot. 

Sam was at first confused by the slightly crusty, grey offering before she saw a faint design on the foot. Stitched into the bear’s bottom right paw in faded blue thread were the words “LARA CROFT” in all capitals.

“Lara? Your name is Lara?” Sam asked. Lara nodded happily and set the bear on her lap. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Lara. I’m Sam,” Sam said, letting some of the tension out of her body. “Is this bear from when you grew up?”

Lara seemed to freeze at the mention of growing up. She hunched her shoulders and tried to make herself as small as possible as she nodded shyly.

“You must have been here a long time, huh?” Sam asked as she lightly touched Lara’s forearm. Lara lightly squeezed Sam’s hand and nodded again. 

That explained a lot. This woman must have come to the island as a little girl, or least little enough to own a Teddy bear. She would have had to become hard to survive here all that time. It also seemed to confirm at least one of Sam’s suspicions. 

“Are we on an island?”

Lara nodded. Sam swallowed nervously before asking her next question. 

“Why did you kill those men on the beach today, Lara?” Sam asked.

Lara’s face instantly soured into a frown as rage built behind her eyes. She became deathly still, and Sam could see something in the taller woman coil up tightly, ready to strike. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just-” Sam practically squeaked before Lara’s vigorous head shaking stopped her. Suddenly Lara stood up and strode over to the book shelf and pulled out a battered notebook. Taking a pencil out of the spine, she sat back down by Sam and wrote out two sentences in painfully laborious hand-writing. 

They’re bad men. They would have killed you.

“But they were trying to free me from the wreckage,” Sam said. Lara frowned again and went back to her uncoordinated writing.

They were going to burn you

“What?” Sam asked incredulously. “Why would they do that? Who are they?”

Lara simply wrote Solarii, as if that was explanation enough. 

“Are they survivors too? One of them sounded Australian,” Sam asked. Lara nodded again and pulled out the book. 

Worship Oni Queen. Want to make another. Burning women is related.

“How are those things related?” Sam asked. Lara shrugged and pointed back to her fist line. 

“They are bad men, aren’t they,” Sam said with a shaky breath, as she realized that today could have easily ended with her being burned alive. “Thank you for saving me.”

Lara shyly smiled and tentatively squeezed Sam’s hand. Sam smiled back. Well, she wasn’t burned alive, and she was not drowned on a beach, and she was not a crazed killer’s kidnapping victim. Well, probably. Regardless, she had met someone who was willing and able to protect her and she was going to get to eat a warm meal and sleep in a dry bed tonight. In pretty much every regard, she had had fabulous luck today. 

“Are there more of these… Solarii?” Sam asked, and Lara grimly nodded. “How many? 10? 20?”

Lara simply wrote many.

“I see,” Sam said quietly. Without much warning, Lara awkwardly hugged Sam. After starting for a moment, Sam hugged her back. Lara retracted from the hug as quickly as she had entered it, and wrote down protect you in her notebook.

“Awww, I know you’ll protect me,” Sam said with a smile. Lara smiled back and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear in a positively girlish way that took Sam by surprise. 

Lara didn’t speak for the rest of the evening, even as they ate the deer stew and odd orange fruits Lara had prepared. But she smiled and nodded or shook her head when Sam talked, and made eye contact and even laughed silently at one point, when Sam accidently bit into the skin of a fruit that needed to be peeled and made a face.

Sam could barely process that this woman was the same one who had brutally killed three men in front of her earlier in the day. She seemed shy and almost a book worm, given the huge amount of reading material that was stacked up around the cave, some of it centuries old. 

Sam continued to try to piece together the puzzle this woman represented with strange, mismatching pieces.

Soon they finished their meal and exhaustion overtook Sam’s senses. Lara noticed she was getting tired and pointed to the bed with a raised eyebrow. Sam nodded sleepily.

Sam only saw one area for bedding, and was curious as to where Lara was going to sleep. As Lara peeled off her boots, socks, and tank top while sitting on her bed, Sam realized that Lara intended them to sleep in the same bed. Sam tried to banish all the incredibly inappropriate thoughts about sleeping in the same bed as an incredibly attractive woman, even if she was exactly the right amount of butch to drive Sam crazy.

She quickly looked away when Lara pulled down her second tank top and casually removed her slightly too small sports bra before tossing it aside and pulling her top back up. Finally, she shimmied out of her pants in a way that looked way too hot to possibly be fair. Sam lay down on her side to try to avoid any further thoughts about her savior’s extremely lithe body. She was surprised to feel Lara snuggle up behind her, wrapping her arm around her in a warm, spooning embrace as she nuzzled into Sam’s neck.

Sam wasn’t entirely sure what any of Lara’s gestures meant. Lara seemed innocent enough, her slow and steady breathing indicating that she had no other thoughts that sleeping, but Sam wondered if Lara even had a concept of romance or sex, growing up in such an isolated and violent world. She supposed that she would have had her parents, and whatever she knew before the island, but beyond that, Sam suspected that she would have had little knowledge of anything like that. Sam felt a twinge of sadness at thinking about how lonely this woman must have been growing up.

All of which made Sam’s pervy fantasies about this naive, sexually innocent Tarzan-woman making her into her Jane even more of a wildly terrible idea.

Despite her nap earlier in the evening, Sam soon felt herself drift off to sleep in the strange girl’s arms.


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days fell into an almost familiar pattern. Lara would wake up first and start a fire to warm up the food, and Sam would crawl out from the lovely warmth of the furs to keep her company. Lara liked to hold her hand while Sam kept the conversation going as she prepared food for both of them before Lara would happily drag Sam through her usual food gathering and survival routine. The tasks were usually done by the late afternoon, by which time Lara would pull Sam indoors and show off the things she had built in her home.

Sam was amazed by the number of things she had managed to create over the years out of salvaged mish mash, of which the shower was just the tip of the iceberg. Lara had a built up a massive collection of books and historical artifacts, all of which were neatly organized on rows and rows of shelves. She had covered the walls in sketches of things on the island, ranging from peaceful deer to terrifyingly savage images of slaughter. Sam didn’t ask about those ones.

The more Sam learned about the island, the more disturbed she became. Lara had set up a large board in one room that Sam guessed was her study. It was filled with sketches and crisscrossing string of different colors. Apparently, the only inhabitants of the island other than Lara were two warring groups of people, the crazy cultists she met when she washed up on the island and a group Lara called the Oni. She showed her sketches of them she had made, and they looked positively demonic in their Samurai armor.

Some of the things that Lara told her Sam couldn’t quite believe. She couldn’t believe that there was something that controlled the weather and that the cultists were burning women alive to escape the island. That the Oni were thousands of years old and survived through blood magic. That no one had left the island alive in thousands of years.

Lara didn’t seem superstitious though, so Sam didn’t doubt that she had seen things to make her think what she did. She reminded herself that Lara had been traumatized since childhood and that she was probably describing real events in the ways that a child would understand them. But what she said couldn’t possibly be literally true.

At least that was what Sam hoped. 

Lara’s library answered another question that Sam had about her. At the bottom of one of shelves piled into a wooden crate was a pile of old Playboy magazines, some of which looked like they had frequently visited pages. Any question Sam had as to their use was answered when Lara turned beet red upon seeing Sam holding the magazine. Lara looked down at her feet with a laser like focus and refused to answer any questions Sam asked for a solid minute before Sam hurriedly tried to explain to a blushing Lara that there wasn’t anything wrong with her having sexual urges. 

“Lara, everyone has those types of feelings,” Sam said. “They aren’t bad or anything.”

Lara looked unconvinced as she shook her head and looked back down at her feet.

“Lara, if your parents were alive, they would have had a talk with you at some point about this kind of thing. I’m sorry you never got that, but really, you don’t have to feel bad,” Sam said. Lara shook her head again and looked at Sam as if she was clearly missing something obvious. 

“Is it because you were looking at pictures of girls instead of guys?” Sam asked softly. Lara blushed harder and turned further away. 

“Lara, that isn’t anything to be ashamed about,” Sam said as she softly put her hand over Lara’s. “I don’t know what world you grew up in or what you’ve been told about it, or even if anyone’s ever even talked to you about it. But two girls together is just as good as a girl and a boy together.”

Lara looked at her curiously and gave her a guarded half smile while cocking her head to the side.

Sam smiled and said, “I know because there isn’t anything wrong with love, because there isn’t anything wrong with me. Ok, there is actually a lot wrong with me, but not that.”

Lara looked quizzically at Sam for a moment before she hugged her again, squeezing the smaller woman for several minutes in relief while Sam made comforting noises in Lara’s ear. 

“Come one, let’s go cook some of that Venison you caught today,” Sam said. “I have some more questions about the island I think you might be able to answer.” 

Lara smiled happily and took Sam’s hand in hers as they walked back to the make shift kitchen.

“Lara, something you had written down has been bugging me,” Sam said. “The Oni are dressed in ancient Japanese armor?” 

Lara nodded, her eyes smoldering with thought as she tried to guess Sam’s line of thought.

“And that the solarii are trying to reincarnate a woman ruler?” Sam asked. Lara nodded again.

“Lara, I think I know another part of what’s going on. I think this is the island of Yamatai,” Sam said. Lara froze when she heard Sam say the name. 

“Lara?” Sam asked, seconds before a clap of thunder rolled across the island.

It was like someone had flipped an off switch in Lara. She retracted her hand to her body, slowly curling her hands and arms up to her chest protectively as she sank to the floor. As she got lower and lower to the floor, Sam couldn’t help but notice the glassy stillness of her previously vibrant eyes against the small shakes that now wracked her body.

“Lara, sweetie, are you ok?” Sam asked sharply as Lara curled into a ball. Sam felt her breath catch in her throat until Lara gave a small shake of her head. After another thunder clap and Lara covered her ears.

“Oh, sweetie,” Sam said sadly as she sat down next to Lara. Lara’s wide, terrified eyes jerked over to her several times before she latched her arms around Sam’s waist with a desperate grab.

“Oh sweetie, it’s just a storm,” Sam said gently as she slowly ran her hand over Lara’s hair. “I… certainly don’t know, but I would imagine you have a lot of bad memories of storms. It’s ok to be scared. But it’s out there and we’re in here and you’re safe with me.”

Lara nodded her head in a small, barely perceptible motion before she buried her face into Sam’s thigh as Sam made soft shushing noises. At some point, Sam recognized that Lara’s shivers seemed to grow larger and more regular, and that her thigh was getting wet through the cargo pants Lara had lent her. Sam realized that this incredibly brave, strong, and tough-as-nails woman was crying.

Eventually the thunder faded, and was replaced by the constant patter of steady rain fall. Long since cried out, Sam felt Lara’s body unclench from around her waist inch by inch with every minute after the thunder had ceased, until she was no longer clutching Sam. Gently picking Lara up under the arms, Sam swung her leg out and Lara pushed herself up to curl into Sam’s shoulder.

“Do storms remind you of how you came to the island?” Sam asked gently. Lara nodded while keeping her face buried in Sam’s shoulder. 

“I noticed that one of the picture’s you drew was from the inside of a cockpit of what looked like a small plane. Did you come to the island in a plane?” Sam asked, and Lara nodded again.

“Did the plane crash in a storm?” Sam asked. Lara seemed to shrink into Sam slightly, but nodded yes again.

“That must have been really scary,” Sam said as she stroked Lara’s braid. Lara hugged her briefly before returning to her loose fetal position. Sam was about to ask another question, when Lara made a scribbly motion with her hand. Sam grabbed a nearby notebook with a pencil slipped into the binding and handed them to Lara, who started to write.

Lightning from a clear sky.

Sam scowled slightly. 

“Is that why you think the island keeps people from leaving?” Sam asked. Lara scribbled again.

Seen it a lot on the island. Boats. Planes. Ships. Always blue lightning from nowhere

“Like someone was controlling the weather…” Sam said to herself. “Lara I think I know what’s happening, assuming you’re right about all of this.”

Lara looked at her quizzically.

“I’m the descendent of an ancient Queen from Japan. She was called Himiko,” Sam said. “Or maybe I should say is called Himiko. Legends said that she could control the weather. I always assumed it was a myth from an ancient people, but… If this is Yamatai, this is the island she lived on. If those Oni really are thousands of years old, then maybe the same thing is keeping her alive too. And maybe that explains why the cultists burn women. Because they know that she controls the weather and it’s somehow linked to gaining her favor.”

Lara’s eyes were narrowed and bright, all traces of vulnerability gone as suddenly as they had come. Sam could see Lara’s mind digesting each new piece of the puzzle that Sam fit into place with a slight nod. When Sam finished, Lara started scribbling.

Mural. Near Oni. Shows Solari Queen putting some energy into a younger woman. Thought it was symbolic for giving monarchy to new Queen. But no women survived with Oni, so it must be Himiko’s consciousness that was transferred because she can still control weather. Fits journals I’ve found better

“So that means,” Sam said with a gasp.

Solarii want to put the Queen in a new body

“So, that’s why she won’t let anyone leave,” Sam said. “She doesn’t have a body, but anybody trapped on the island would have to give her a new body eventually or they’ll never be allowed to leave.”

Lara nodded enthusiastically in agreement before looking deeply and fiercely into Sam’s eyes. Even with tear stained cheeks and red eyes, Sam thought she looked positively Amazonian. Sam felt a twist of desire in her stomach as Lara brought a hand up to her cheek.

“Sam,” Lara whispered in a scratchy voice with a hint of an English accent, which made sense to Sam since Croft seemed like a properly British name. She spoke so quietly that Sam wouldn’t have even known that Lara was talking if she wasn’t looking directly at her lips. Lips that were getting closer and closer to her own before they were placing a chaste kiss on Sam’s lips. 

Lara pulled back, grinning from ear to ear. 

“You’re full of surprises, Lara Croft,” Sam said as she smiled back. Lara hugged her again, not the desperate clinging of before, but rather a firm squeeze that Sam felt down to her core, before standing up and offering her hand to Sam.

“I think a late dinner sounds great,” Sam said with a smile as she took Lara’s helping hand to stand up before freezing in place. Lara cocked her head to side in worry.

“My ship! Lara, you said that the storms don’t let anyone leave,” Sam said in a rush. “The ship I was on has to be looking for me, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky this afternoon, and they’ve probably only just recently gotten close enough to be affected by that. We have to go warn them!“

Lara lightly grabbed Sam’s elbow and sadly shook her head before Sam could dash off to the beach.

“Why Lara? We can’t just let them be crash!” Sam said.

“No radio in storm,” Lara choked out as she held a hand to her raw throat. “Too late.”

“Then we go out and rescue the survivors!” Sam said, again trying to head for the door. Lara shook her head again and wiggled her fingers as she moved her hand from eye level downward before making a large gesture with her hand.

“I know it’s stormy, but you rescued me in a storm,” Sam said as she crossed her arms. Lara a digital watch on her wrist, and repeated the wind and rain signals. 

“Fine, we’ll wait, but the second it’s safe we’re going,” Sam said. “Those are good people down there, Lara.”

Lara nodded before taking Sam’s hand as she led her to the place she kept her gear. Sam was amazed at all the equipment and weapons Lara could fit onto her frame. In a few short minutes, she had transformed from a stronger than average woman into a walking armory. Sam had no doubt that Lara knew how to use every single weapon to maximum effect from how easily she handled everything. 

At the end of loading herself out, she solemnly turned around and handed a small handgun to Sam. 

“Thank you,” Sam said as she put the gun into her coat pocket. Lara nodded as she pulled down her terrifying mask, and they walked the short distance wait by the entrance way for the storm to break.


	4. Chapter 4

After several hours, the storm ceased truly howling and settled into a steady rain fall. Sam woke Lara, who had dozed off cuddled up to Sam after her emotional ordeal earlier. Lara looked out at the storm, nodded to Sam, and took off down the mountain path with Sam just trying to keep up behind her. 

By the time they made it down to the beach that most likely held the survivors, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. However, instead of Roth and the crew of the endurance, Sam was bitterly disappointed to only find an inflatable raft and some scattered debris. Whatever relief she felt at knowing that there were survivors was outweighed by the knowledge they were now lost on an island filled with dangers they knew nothing off. 

“They’ve gone,” Sam said quietly. Lara nodded, and pointed to a fresh set of tracks leading away from the beach into a different part of Lara’s forest than they had come from. Sam felt relief and hurried after a quickly moving Lara.

After a half an hour, Lara slowed considerably and drew her bow, silently notching an arrow. Sam figured that since she likely wasn’t going to much help in combat, she drew her pistol and crouched down behind a tree. Sam could see Lara tense as she drew back her bow, taking careful aim at something in the distance. Sam risked a glimpse from behind the trunk and her eyes flew wide in horror.

“Lara, no!” Sam said loudly. The man who was carefully stalking through the underbrush trained his gun towards the sound.

“Roth! Roth, it’s me!” Sam said before she stepped out from behind cover.

“Sam! Girl, we thought you were dead,” Roth said. “Where’s Porter?”

“He didn’t make it to shore,” Sam said quietly. Roth nodded gravely in acknowledgement. “I met someone else, though. Lara, come on out.”

Sam turned around as she started to walk toward Roth, but couldn’t seem to find Lara.

“Lara?” Sam asked. “She was just here.”

“Sam, I haven’t seen or heard anyone else,” Roth said. “Are you sure she was really there?”

“Of course she was there,” Sam said. “She didn’t just become invisible.”

“I’m ex-SAS, Sam,” Roth said. “I would be able to tell if someone was there. I’ve seen things like this before. Did Lara help you survive on the island until now?”

“Well, yes,” Sam admitted.

“Girl, Sometimes the mind plays tricks on you to help you survive,” Roth said. “There’s no shame in it.”

“Roth, I didn’t imagine her, she-“ Sam cut herself off as she suddenly saw Lara raise herself silently out of a bush, bow still trained on Roth’s throat. “She’s right next to you.”

“Christ!” Roth swore when he saw Lara. Lara simply stared at Roth through the eye holes of her mask. 

“Lara, he’s a friend,” Sam said, as she moved in between Roth and Lara, gently putting her hand on Lara’s arm. After a few tense seconds, Lara lowered the bow and let the tension go out of the string.

“You really can make friends anywhere,” Roth said as he holstered his pistol. “Who are you, Lass?”

“Like I said, this is Lara,” Sam said. “But she doesn’t really talk much. Like really at all.”

“Why the mask?” Roth asked suspiciously. 

“I think it’s to unnerve people,” Sam answered. “I haven’t asked.”

“Well it’s working,” Roth said dryly. “Would she mind taking it off?”

“She speaks English, you know,” Sam said as Lara hesitantly pulled back the mask.

“Amelia?” Roth said as she sucked in his breath. Lara scowled at the name.

“No, it couldn’t be you, Amelia would be an old woman by now,” Roth said. “What did you say her last name was?”

“Croft,” Sam said. “Lara Croft.”

“Jesus, Lara,” Roth said gesturing at Lara. “It’s me, Girl. It’s uncle Roth.”

Lara looked at him suspiciously.

“That necklace you’re wearing,” Roth said, pointing to the jade green necklace wrapped around Lara’s neck by a small leather strap. “You showed it to me at you’re first dig. You were so proud of it, you showed everyone in camp what you’d found. You’re mother made it into a necklace for you.”

Lara’s eyes flashed bright in recognition as her hand flew to her necklace. A strange kind of whining cry escaped her throat as her entire body language changed to trying to pull inwards. She refused to look either Roth or Sam in the eye as Roth cautiously approached with opened arms.

“Lara, you remember me,” Roth said with tears in his eyes. “You survived. I can’t believe you survived. Where are your parents?”

At the mention of her parents, Lara turned all the way around and put her back to Roth, grasping onto Sam’s arm for comfort as she did so.

“Roth, I think maybe Lara needs some space,” Sam said gently.

“Right,” Roth said through a choking sound in his throat. “Right, of course. I’m sorry.”

As Roth turned to walk away, Lara launched herself at Roth and embraced him in a fierce hug. Roth looked stunned, and then returned the hug a second later. Roth cried for the first time that Sam could remember.

“I thought I lost you,” Roth said through the tears. Lara gave a small smile at Roth for that, before slipping out of the embrace and retaking a position closely just behind Sam with her hand lightly grasping the edge of Sam’s sleeve.

“Conrad!” Reyes called as she came into the clearing. “We heard shouting so we came over- Sam?”

“Sam! Alright!” shouted Alex, a half step behind Reyes and one in front of Grim. 

“Glad that you made it,” Jonah boomed jovially behind them as he and Whitman entered the 

“Hey everyone,” Sam said sheepishly as Lara protectively stepped in front of her.

“Who’s she?” Reyes asked suspiciously. 

“It’s Richard and Amelia’s girl,” Roth said to Reyes. “She survived here.”

“You always said the plane went down in the Himalayas, Roth,” Reyes shot back.

“That’s where he said he was going,” Roth said. “But I guess they were going here.” 

“I see,” Reyes said, sounding unconvinced. “Does she talk?”

“Not too much,” Sam called out awkwardly from behind Lara.

“She does know that we know you, right?” Reyes asked.

“Yeah, we come in peace,” Alex said in an affected voice that earned him a stern glare from Reyes. 

“What a truly unusual anthropological specimen,” Whitman said as he stepped forward into the unspoken no man’s land as he walked towards Lara. “The Japanese mask shows cultural transference at its finest.”

“You know I don’t have my camera, right? You don’t have anyone to sound smart in front of,” Sam said snidely.

“The clothes are crude, suggesting a true wild woman,” Whitman said, ignoring Sam.

“You know she can hear and understand you, right?” Sam said as Lara let out a small snort of annoyance as Whitman continued edging into her personal space. 

“I wonder what her dental wear patterns are,” Whitman said as he reached for Lara’s mouth.

“No, don’t-“ Sam started too late to warn Whitman of the danger he put himself in. As Whitman’s fingers approached Lara’s mouth, she drew back quickly and landed a solid punch to Whitman’s nose. A wet crack came out as Whitman was staggered by the punch before he fell backwards in surprise. 

“She hit me,” Whitman said in surprise as Reyes drew her gun, followed a nanosecond later by Lara.

“You were being an ass!” Sam yelled at him. 

“Ach, stop you’re yelling,” Grim said. “She just gave him a Glasgow hello, nothing to go shooting anyone over.” 

“She’s dangerous!” Whitman whined as he cradled his broken nose. Reyes gave him a look of contempt but didn’t lower her handgun. 

“Let’s not spook the girl,” Roth said in a calm measured tone. “Lara, Jos, let’s just all lower our guns nice and steady. Not a word, Whitman.” 

Whitman got to his feet and retreated to Jonah as both Reyes and Lara lowered their respective guns.

“Lara, it’s alright, they’re friends,” Sam said. “This is the crew I was talking about.”

Lara considered them skeptically for a moment. 

“We all think Whitman’s a jackass too, if it helps,” Alex said.

“Amen,” Grim said.

“I am the leader of this expedition,” Whitman simpered in the background. 

“Not for now, you’re not,” Roth said. “I’m the survival expert. And I’d say this is a survival situation.”

Whitman sniffed loudly but said nothing. 

“I think that Lara knows best how to survive on this island until we can get the radio set up to call for help,” Roth said. “Lead the way, girl. We could use the help.”

Lara considered for a moment before she nodded solemnly and took off at a brisk pace into the forest, keeping Sam close to her.

Lara did not take the group back to her cozy cave, but rather to an ancient house nearby. After a few minutes, the group wearily unpacked and started to settle in for the night. Soon a fire was roaring in the fireplace, Jonah was breaking into the few survival rations they had saved from the beach and Sam was introducing Lara to the few crewmembers of the SS Endurance that were on hand. Lara was a hit with everyone except for Whitman, who sat in a corner darkly muttering about suing the woman once they got back to civilization. 

“Roth, there’s something I have to talk to you about,” Sam said. “Privately.”

“There’s something I have to talk to you about too, Samantha,” Roth said. “Privately.”

“Roth, you never say my full name since you realized I was more than just Alex’s girlfriend,” Sam said in annoyance. 

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about, actually,” Roth said. “What exactly are your intentions with Lara?”

“Come again?” Sam said.

“I don’t mean to be forward,” Roth said. “I know you’re a touchy American. But I can’t believe growing up alone on this island made Lara the same way, and she’s been hanging off you the whole time I’ve seen her.”

“Roth,” Sam hissed. “This is a terrible time to discover your paternal side.”

“You’re avoiding the question, Sam,” Roth said.

“Fine, you want to hear it Roth? Your goddaughter is putting the moves on me,” Sam said with crossed arms. “And it’s cute, and she’s cute, and there isn’t anything wrong with it.”

“Sam, it’s not- that’s not what I mean,” Roth said in a frustrated tone. “I just want to make sure that you don’t crush her heart so soon after she’s just starting to be able to feel again. I want to make sure this isn’t some adrenaline fueled bad decision.”

“I’m not in the habit of being completely shitty, Roth, so no, I’m not going to abandon Lara after all of this is over,” Sam said. “I dumped Alex because he’s kind of codependent, not because I got bored. Jeez, Roth, you really do sound like a father.”

“Point taken. I would tell you to remember that she’s been through more than you or I will ever know, but she already seems to trust you, so I guess I can too. But what do you mean, after all of this?” Roth said with a raised eyebrow. “Is there some other danger than the elements here?”

“There’s more to the story. A lot more,” Sam said. “We can’t leave the island, even if we radio for help.”

“Why not?” Roth said with a crease in his brow.

“Nothing can leave this island,” Sam said. “It’s how I knew to come down to the beach with Lara. It’s why I’m here in the first place. Anytime something tries to leave, a storm pops up.”

“That’s- that doesn’t make any sense,” Roth said with a frown.

“I know. But this island, Roth, it’s terrifying. I’ve only seen a tiny part of it, and I’ve already almost died three times,” Sam said. “There’s people on this island, a cult. They worship Himiko, and a Lara thinks they’re trying to bring her back from the dead to stop the storms from wrecking the ships that try to leave.”

“Sam, this is crazy,” Roth said. “I know Lara seems rational, but a life time out here-“

“That’s what I thought too,” Sam said. “But you didn’t see the men on the beach that tried to abduct me, Roth. Lara had to save me from them. 

“Men?” Roth said.

Sam nodded and said, “They were scavengers, but they weren’t right. They said they were going to bring to a man named Mathias. Lara killed them before they could. They were going to burn me alive, Roth. Lara’s shown me a place they used to do it in her forest before she drove them out. And I’ve seen artifacts, boxes of them, that she couldn’t have faked. And two freak storms that wrecked my boat and the Endurance in the space of a few days at the same island? There’s too many coincidences. It’s the only thing that makes anything make sense.”

“She kept artifacts?” Roth said in a soft voice.

“And books, and journals,” Sam said. “She has a whole library hidden away.”

“It’s a crazy story, Sam,” Roth said. “But it’s no crazier than an 9-year-old surviving on a rock for 12 years. She’s a Croft, all right. And it explains Richard crashing here. He was an expert pilot. It was a small plane over open ocean, but Richard was always so careful especially with Amelia and Lara. I think I believe you.” 

“Lara came up with most of it,” Sam said. “I just happened to know about Himiko.”

Sam saw Lara walking over to Roth and Lara with a confused look on her face.

“I’m just trying to explain to Roth about the island,” Sam said. “Before we try to tell everyone else, because if I went in there cold and tried to sell this I don’t know if I could even convince myself.”

Lara nodded and opened her notebook.

I have a plan

“For getting rid of Himiko’s presence?” Sam asked and Lara nodded before she wrote something else.

Blow up the mountain

“You certainly are a Croft,” Muttered Roth. “How on Earth are we supposed to do that?”

Found a thousand-pound bomb. Trebuchet into Himiko’s grave

“Lara, that’s a crazy plan,” Roth said. “Won’t the cultists try to stop you? Or these Oni you talk about?”

Set Solarii fortress on fire with gas vents, flush Solarii out into open, drive them into Oni base. Distraction

“Jesus, Lara,” Roth said. “That’s… positively cold-blooded.”

Lara looked at him angrily and flipped back to Bad men and stabbed her finger down emphatically.

“Roth they… I don’t want to say that they deserve it, but I’ve read some of their journals,” Sam said quietly. “They would do the same or worse to us. Maybe for the hell of it.” 

“Alright,” Roth said, squaring his shoulders. “Let’s build a trebuchet.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next few days were a blur to Sam. Working with Jonas, Reyes and Alex to build the trebuchet. Anxiously hiding in a sniper’s nest with Roth, spotting enemies with her Camera lenses to make sure Lara could sneak into the Solarii compound. The massive explosion and fire from the fortress. Hundreds of Solarii pouring out from the mountain, only to find out that the only escape route from the fire was through Oni territory. The slaughter when the Solarii tried to push through the Oni.

Not that the battles they fought were without risk. In order to set the fires to cut the Solarii off, so many people were killed. Three crewmen to secure that a village pass was blocked off. Grim holding off men trying to climb the cliffs. Whitman died too, but he died trying to defect, so Sam didn’t really feel bad about that. Roth died saving Lara from a stray hatchet that Sam wasn’t even entirely sure where it could have come from. And poor brave Alex died setting off the bomb that failed to detonate on impact, running across the bridge under a hail of arrows to throw a grenade that set off an explosion that started with a fire ball and ended with gigantic arcs of blue electricity and an otherworldly shriek that reverberated through her brain.

After the battle, Sam and Lara helped each other down the mountain, too numb to do anything else. Reyes had used the radio to call in a rescue helicopter, which Sam had to coax Lara into because of the noise of the rotor and the strange men inside. Once they were airborne, Lara refused to let Sam leave her side until they were off the copter. 

For once, Sam was grateful for her Father’s wealth and influence. While Lara was distinctly uncomfortable being whisked away in a Nishimura company car to the hospital, Sam knew that doing so avoided Lara being totally overwhelmed by the media feeding frenzy that was sure to follow the incidents on Yamatai. Hopefully she could shield Lara from civilization just as much as Lara had shielded her from the jungle of Yamatai. 

After a long, thorough visit to the doctor’s office that required careful coaxing by Sam, they were both cleared to leave on the stipulation that Sam would bring Lara in for subsequent check-ups for both her physical and mental health. Sam knew that endless hours of therapy and recovery were in both of their futures, as well as what promised to be a painfully awkward conversation with her very conservative father. But tonight, Sam guided a completely overstimulated Lara to a quiet, expensive hotel room paid for by her dad’s credit card to simply rest.

As soon as the door closed, Lara’s entire body language changed from a twitchy, suspicious mess to one that was much calmer. Sam could see the tension ease out of her shoulders in the quiet of the hotel room, her breathes deepening with every expansion of her chest.

“Better?” Sam whispered, not wanting to break the calm that had settled over Lara. Lara nodded and turned around to gently hug Sam.

“Oh sweetie, it’s been a lot for me too,” Sam said. “Let’s order some room service, shower up, and crawl into bed.”

Lara nodded into her shoulder. Sam gave Lara a comforting head scratch before breaking the hug and calling room service for the most obnoxiously American meal she could convince them to send up before turning to help Lara in the bathroom. Lara needed to be reacquainted with the wonderful world of fast food and Sam wanted to indulge in as many creature comforts as she could after the grueling and terrifying experience on the island.

Lara was hesitantly staring at the shower knobs with her shirt off when Sam came in.

“Do you remember how showers work?” Sam asked. Lara nodded her head tentatively. 

“I’ll be outside then-” Sam said as she turned around before she was interrupted by Lara gently grabbing Sam’s wrist.

“Sam,” Lara said in a hoarse whisper as she gently pulled Sam’s body close to hers.

“I’m going to take this to mean you want me stay,” Sam said with a grin, answered by a truly licentious leer from Lara before the taller woman kissed Sam deeply. Sam felt herself squirm against Lara’s taught body as she let her jacket fell to the floor unheeded. Lara broke the kiss and made eye contact with Sam before she put her hands lightly on Sam’s hips. Sam felt hot all over as she ripped off her shirt in one motion.

“Someone seems like she wants to do more than just use the shower together,” Sam said with a smirk as she saw Lara look at her, suddenly shy and unsure of what to do with her hands after Sam’s dramatic removal of clothing.

“If you want to touch me, you can,” Sam said softly as she pushed her front into Lara’s. “Is it ok if I touch you?”

Lara nodded nervously as her hands tentatively strayed to Sam’s now bare lower back.

“You know we can wait to do this, or even never do this, if it makes you feel uncomfortable,” Sam said as she placed her hands on Lara’s flanks, studying her reaction intensely to make sure Lara was still comfortable. 

When Sam put her hands on Lara, it was as if a switch had been flipped inside of her. Letting out what Sam could swear was a quiet, low growl from the back of her throat, Lara pushed up against Sam’s body, her earlier shyness completely forgotten as she attacked Sam’s mouth with a passionate kiss. Sam moaned loudly into Lara’s mouth as her hands grasped at every inch of Sam’s exposed flesh and her mouth suckled its way down her jaw and throat.

Sam was overwhelmed by the sensations Lara was causing throughout her body. She felt the tension and anxiety of the island melt under the liquid heat that Lara was inspiring throughout her core. Sam wasn’t stupid enough to think that it wouldn’t come back, but for now she simply needed a release from the island, a way to at least close the chapter on the trauma and start to heal. 

“Let’s get into the shower,” Sam moaned. “I want to see all of you. That and we’re filthy and I don’t want to wait until the bed.” 

Sam turned around to twist the shower handles on, and she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her from behind and a warm pair of hips push against her rear. Sam smiled as she felt Lara’s hands gently squeeze her body from behind. Lara was going to be insatiable tonight, Sam could already tell, and Sam was going to teach Lara all kinds of new things. The pain, the struggle, the heartbreak that had happened was sure to come, it was worth it for this. 

Sam smiled as she stepped out of her clothes and into the shower.


End file.
